Deep Freezers / Chest Freezers

[MummyNaomi]

Subscribing, we are looking to buy one too - DH asked me if there was anything particular I'd like for mothers day and I suggested this - practical yes, but I really want one LOL

[briggsy's girl]

we had a deep freeze and got rid of it - found it a pain in the backside. DH and I aren't short by any means, so it wasn't the problem with getting stuff in and out - it was just very hard to keep things organised. we make a lot of meals in advance, and DH was taking them away to work with him - we chose to get rid of that and get an upright so we could see exactly what was in there. we never ended up with any waste from food being left in the freezer too long after we got the upright, but the chest freezer seemed to be a bit of an abyss...

[KitFaerie]

We have a chest freezer, Heier brand cos they were the most energy efficient out of the options we had. Love LOVE it! I cook in bulk a lot, so we eat one/freeze one, super easy for the can't be bothered cooking days when we would previously have gotten take away. When bread etc is on special we buy up and chuck it in, it's seriously saved us way more money than the initial output.

[Trillian]

OMGawd I'd be lost without it!!! We have a massive one and we use it all the time. I buy bread and meat in bulk, plus we kill our own meat and will do 3-4 sheep at a time. Ours is a westinghouse that we've had for 13 years and its still going strong. Highly recommend you get one.

[~Hestia~]

Ours is outside and DH is at work so can't tell you any specifics, but I love our chest freezer I don't know what I would do without it. We got ours when I was pregnant with Moo and it's been full ever since. I'm not sure about running costs as we got ducted air con installed around the same time, and our power consumption has increased but I wouldn't know how much the freezer contributed iykwim?

DH is paid monthly so to save money I buy meat in bulk then vac seal it in portions, can keep it for so much longer this way. I will also buy up on frozen things that are on special and pop them in there as our fridge/freezer is only tiny!

I often do huge cook ups and again vac seal in portions. There is always something to eat for dinner in the freezer when time is tight or I can't spread the grocery budget far enough. I always write the date frozen on the bag too.

Only annoying thing is ours only came with one basket, we just bought more from a storage place and they fit fine. Usually have certain things in each so it is easy to just lift out baskets to get to the one we need. When I was pregnant I even had lists of what was where stuck to it

[LionsandBears]

We have a Westinghouse chest freezer. It's good but it's not frost free. We'll defrost it this week before we move. Once we got it, I wished we'd got an upright. They're frost free and easier to find things, though the volume you can store is less. I forget things and though I label food, often the labels fall or rub offf.

Our freezer is in the garage.

[Kazzo]

I have one, it was my parents and they got it about 18 years ago, never had an issue. They used ut for everything because our fridge had no freezer. We use it now to store froxen mice and rats for our snake food. It is an O'Malleys Tucker Box.

[Amaunet]

I have one, it's just a cheap one (Centrex?) and it's not frost free so a bit of a pain in the bum I'd really like an upright one to be honest, I really need this one to break down

[~Kim~]

We've just bought an upright to replace our chest freezer. Like the PPs said, getting to the bottom of it and keeping it organised was a total PITA. We had a 160L chest and it held a truckload. We've gone to a 210L upright and it only holds the same amount due to space lost to shelving and baskets I guess. I wouldn't be without ours, but being a bit more remote and having less food choice than most we use it a lot.
Ours is a FP - purely because many of our appliances are as we've had such good experience with them. Energy ratings for freezers suck.